A Chainlink Wish
by Sumiregawa Nenene
Summary: PostHiME Finally, the Carnival was over. But, little did the exHiME know, an organization close to home is working to revive it. What do the Childs really represent? And what motive could the organization possibly have?
1. Prologue

_"They're dancing in the shadows like whispers of love  
Just dreaming of place where they're free as dove  
They've never been allowed to love in this cursed cage  
It's only the fairy tale they believe."_  
-It's Only the Fairy Tale, Alyssa Searrs-

If someone had told me when I was five - practically living in my mother's lab, and proud owner of the World's Greatest Puppy Dhuran, who I took on extended walks in the gardens outside said lab - that I would someday be a dramatic, phyrric heroine; the type of heroine that tries to overcome all odds, defeats the ironically friend-turned-enemy at the sacifice of herself, and open up the portal for the _real_ hero to save the earth from the clutches of some ancient, untold of organization whose roots were buried in the sands of time, I would have to be honest: I probably would have thought it was pretty cool.

But it would only be a fairy tale. And children love fairy tales. It's the mysticism about them; you don't truly understand the emotions. You can't understand the despair, the suffering, the pain, the _love_. But you sure think that you can and that's why they're heroes, because everything that they do is just in your reach. All of those stories, the soft, sweet sounding lullabies that your parents sing to you at night as you fall asleep: they're shadows of what you could be yourself someday.

Even when my mother felt the impending doom creeping upon her, knew that the double agent work she'd been doingwas going sour, found that this dangerous game she'd been playing would not only seal her child's fate, but her own also, the lullabies continued. It was all that she knew how to do. It was just a shame that listening about all of those fictious curses couldn't teach me how to shake the ones she'd placed on me until it was too late.

Regardless, nobility is not dead. And as for the children, they still want to hear the stories.

--

AN - FFnet strikes again. This piece's title is supposed to be "A Chain-linked Wish." Naturally, it hates the hyphen. It also removed most of my actual formatting too in the chapter itself... oh how I loathe thee FFnet. This is partially why I posted this to fic wad (dot) com first. Just take out the spaces and add the dot appropriately. Let's see if FFnet blocks that soon enough, heh.


	2. Blissful, Not Stupid

_"And when we're done_  
_soul-searching,_  
_as we carried the weight_  
_and died for a cause -_  
_is misery_  
_made beautiful_  
_right before our eyes?_  
_Will mercy be revealed_  
_or blind us where we stand?"_  
-Witness, Sarah McLachlan-

( ")(" )( ")(" )( ")(" ) 

"So tell me," Nao said slowly, choosing her words carefully, "who exactly are you doing this for?"

Natsuki's eyes closed she paused, bent over, still in the midst of packing. "Myself."

Nao had the decency to hide a very wry smile by turning around on her heel, making motions of placing what was left usable from the top of a now wrecked coffee table into a nearby box. "Well, I know that."

"Then don't ask questions you already know the answer to," the other girl replied irritably. The glass of some food containers chime in agreeance as she continued what she had been doing.

Natsuki had received the letter no more than a day after the carnival. _To Miss Kuga Natsuki_, it read, _it has come to our attention that your residence is in complete disrepair. Your continued residency here is no longer acceptable, and Mikoshawa Properties asks you to vacate the premises no later than the end of this month. We thank you for your business._

To be honest, none of them had any idea that eviction notices were even legally allowed to be so vague. But Nao hadn't been referring to the fact that Natsuki was moving at all. She'd been questioning that Natsuki had decided to take up a dorm room on campus with Mai and Mikoto. It burned her a bit, because in the end Natsuki knew that Nao understood why she was doing it. After all, the options had come down to either staying with those two, her private time and personal space be damned, or attempt to get another apartment, not only with an eviction record, but also the chance that Shizuru would decide to move in somewhere near.

Not as though that was necessarily a bad thing. But she wasn't entirely sure she was ready for it.

So instead it was Natsuki's luck that Nao was the only one free this last weekend to help her move the last of her possessions. It served her right, Natsuki told herself, for having help wrecked the place to begin with. Still, her barbs weren't helping the process. The dark-haired girl took a deep breath and counted slowly until her anger dissipated enough to speak.

"Look, I don't think this is working out. I'll move the last of this myself. Why don't you go enjoy the rest of tonight off... doing whatever it is you do?"

Nao seemed surprised for a moment, then her expression took a turn that reminded Natsuki of the Cheshire Cat. "I think I will," she murmured back at her through pursed lips, completely ignoring the shudder from the other girl as she walked past the kitchen to reach the closet with her jacket. _Creepy girl._

The red-head didn't even say goodbye, or wait for a thanks; the door's closing echo was only made more apparent from the lack of furniture. Natsuki stood leaning against the counter for a moment before blowing a bit of the bangs that had fallen out of the quick pull-up job she'd done for her hair. She felt incredibly hot, all of the sudden. _Gotta be all the packing_, she thought dully, and pushed off slightly from the counter for balance, picking her way across the floor to the balcony door.

A cool wind greeted her as she slid it open, and the smell of pending rain wafted through the air; the humidity didn't help the moisture from sweating, but the breeze certainly felt nice enough. She noticed Nao far below hitching a ride from a cabbie, and judging by the way she was shaking her hips, she imagined that the other girl only had to pay a fraction of the fare. Natsuki shook her head, not really wanting to think about it.

The sun was already going down, but the oddest thing was a sudden fog bank that was creeping up the street. There was no nearby water source that Natsuki knew of, and in fact the property managers had specifically stated as much when they'd had to go about repairing the pipes a few months back, leaving the apartments out of service for several days after one of the nearby water mains burst. Sure, it could have been just an excuse, she'd supposed, but it would seem weird to only have shown up just now. The tail lights of the cab faded into it quickly.

No one else seemed too disturbed by it, however; traffic was normal, parents ran down the sidewalks chasing down their children, and a stray cat emerged from it, stopping only to beg at the feet of a local homeless man. Natsuki chalked it up to the stress and went back to leaning against the railing of the balcony. After a moment, she moved her hand to her face, attempting to wipe away some of the moisture from it and her neck.

The pain was sudden, and short-lived, but Natsuki knew very well that its placement couldn't be mistaken. The brief burning sensation forced her hand to dart to her lower back, where the HiME mark had once been.

She was frantic, and had no clue why. The teen dashed further back inside the apartment to her bedroom, and groaned as she remembered that the full-length mirror had already been taken to the dorm room. A moment of rifling through the box Nao had been working on produced nothing either. She looked to one side, finding the small makeup mirror normally kept near, if not on, the coffee table to be shattered into quite a many small shards.

Cursing now, Natsuki went into the first bathroom, the spare one, and flipped on the lights. Intelligently, she'd been looking directly at one of the bulbs over the top of the sink, and managed to temporarily blind herself. With a grunt she hopped onto the sink, sitting backwards, tugging up the edge of her shirt. Was something flaring red...?!

_But no..._ Natsuki blinked a few times. She was still seeing bits of the light from staring directly into it a moment ago. They just weren't going away. She willed myself to be calm again and shut her eyes for several seconds. Turning back, there was nothing. No marks at all, no light, no flaring. Just her lower back, as it had been since about a month ago. She didn't believe it at first, and pulled up the shirt on the other side also, checking thoroughly. She didn't find anything.

( ")(" )( ")(" )( ")(" )

The night fell silently, as nights tend to do. At seven o'clock sharp, the watch provided a soft beep as it was programmed, letting its owner know that it was time to go home and the required overtime had been served, as it always did. And normally, three hours later, its owner would finally go home, tired to her wits end, as she normally did. Tonight was a bit different than usual.

Tonight the BRUTE Special Division had obtained a subject to study. The Brisk Restraint Unit with Tactical Expertise of Searrs Corp really had outdone themselves this evening. And, in fact, the Research Department's tools had worked effectively - extremely so - against the dangers they'd encountered. Accounted for dangers, but dangers nonetheless. One could never be too certain with Childs involved, after all.

To be fair, the subject this evening had seemed just as startled at the appearance of her Child as she was at having the BRUTE officers capture her. Nothing quite said "surprise" like a group of twenty well armored, semi-automatic rifle armed men storming down the road out of parked vehicles, while a creature you thought had dissipated permanently appears from nowhere next to your recently wrecked taxi. Except perhaps being subsequently tasered, restrained, and tossed into the back of one of those vehicles.

Saeko pushed her glasses to one side and rubbed at her right eye tensely. They were watering from having stared at the screen for too long. The statistics, no matter how intriguing, were beginning to become harder to comprehend. Six hours of poring over them tended to do that, especially compounded with her normal workday.

"Kuga-san," came the gruff voice of the night-shift assistant. "You should go home."

"I'm-" she cleared her throat, it hadn't been used and had cracked, "I'm about to."

The assistant watched her back dubiously as she hunched over the large control panel. "She'll still be here in the morning, ma'am."

The blue-haired woman paused in her typing. Slowly she hung her head to stare at the desk portion of the panel. "I suppose you're right." She rustled some papers into her bag without much care, and stood.

Turning, she could only smile back at the assistant's scruffy face as he grinned to her encouragingly. With only one thing in mind - her nice warm bed at home - she sauntered past him, no further conversation necessary. _Sometimes, that's the best way._

( ")(" )( ")(" )( ")(" )

The next morning, it didn't take Natsuki very long to figure out that something wasn't right. She'd gotten in very late with the last of her things to the dorm room, and the other two occupants had already gone to sleep by then.

"Hey, Natsuki."

Mai's tone softened her response somewhat as she rolled over in bed, despite having been woken up early. "What is it?"

"Yesterday..." her red-haired friend paused a moment. "Did anything strange happen to you yesterday?"

Natsuki considered her options foggily, clinging slightly to a pillow and her back facing the other girls.

"I mean, while you were packing."

It was then that Natsuki realized very suddenly, in a clairvoyance that happens only to you when you're woken up far too early and with only a minimal amount of rest, that she didn't know what to think about what had happened yesterday. But that for one, she was damn sure she didn't want to talk about it just yet. She put the growl back into her voice that she normally had at this time of the day. "No. Why?"

Mai's breath paused for a moment. "No reason."

Then there came the sound of shuffling feet and eventually what sounded like the toilet being used. The familiar sounds started to calm the dark-haired girl down, and she began to fall back to sleep.

The alarm clock met its end no more than ten minutes later as Mikoto launched herself from the other bed as it went off, grabbing at Natsuki in a breath-stealing hug. She always kept the clock on her pillow by habit; she was not a morning person so the less she had to move at first, the better. However, the clock was not used to Mikoto, and Natsuki felt it was rather a sore loss as it flung into the wall with a sickening crack.

"MIKOTO!"

( ")(" )( ")(" )( ")(" )

Saeko slept hardly any better than her daughter, though of course there was no way for her to know that. Folding up the futon in a brisk manner, she stopped in her kitchen long enough to heat up a cup of water for tea. She moved it purposefully into a travel mug from one of the cabinets and then reached into her tin of teabags.

A sound of disappointment followed shortly thereafter; she was out of tea. Upset, she clanged the empty tin against counter a couple of times before giving up. She'd have to order more, it seemed. British tea was so hard to get direct and the rush order would no doubt cost her.

Instead, the dark-haired woman poked quickly through her pantry to try finding some breakfast snack bars. Taking one out of the wrapper, she frowned irritably as she bit down. The things were rock-hard. _It just isn't my morning,_ she thought. She tossed the remains of the bar into the trash absently as she passed, making her way down into the parking garage of her complex.

The sleek sports car, a Maserati Gran Sport, hummed to life softly, as it was meant to. The engine greeted her happily as she reversed out of the spot and tore down the garage roads. This was one of Saeko's few indulgences: she loved sports cars. The luxury suspension gripped tightly to the curves, giving her the ability to take turns at higher speeds with only a fraction of the vertigo. A single hand on the wheel wherever she could, the woman enjoyed the chilly spring breeze coming through the cracked driver side window.

The drive to work was normal for this time of day, that being very early. Hardly anyone was on the streets and, those that were, were too tired and sliding along in the slow lanes. Saeko just took enjoyment maneuvering around them, anyway. She reached work in probably what was considered record time.

_Maybe they'll have fixed the cappuccino machine at least,_ she considered idly as she passed the large stone slab that stated in a flat, bold font that this was a building property of Iwasaka Pharmaceuticals. _At least I'll have enough time to get some today._ She snapped the nose of the vehicle snuggly in the first available spot, right by the employee entrance.

Bricks are naturally dangerous things to be hurled into your windshield from about 5 feet away. However, when backed by the power of an approximately twenty foot tall mechanical-spider beast, they're downright deadly. Saeko supposed later that getting off with three cracked ribs and a deep graze across her forehead was lucky; at least, her car wasn't nearly so lucky overall.

A deafening crash came as the building's wall broke apart, disturbing birds and small wildlife creatures from their homes in nearby trees. When Saeko could think clearly enough to breathe again, the dust had started to settle; a small cloud of fog mixed with the dirt, making the atmosphere choke-worthy to any normal human being. But no human stood in its midst - just something with six bright red eyes that were glowing. The Child made a distinctly metallic hissing noise as she comprehended her surroundings.

It was all Saeko could do to brace herself against the seat, one hand covering her eye and bleeding forehead as Julia leaped forward, fully intent upon crushing anything that got in her way. Including her.


	3. False Starts

_"All day  
staring at the ceiling,  
making friends with shadows on my wall.  
All night  
hearing voices tell me  
that I should get some sleep,  
because tomorrow might be good for something."  
_-Unwell, Matchbox 20-

( ")(" )( ")(" )( ")(" ) 

Breakfast that morning had been fairly snippy. The walk to class wasn't working out much better. Mai sighed; the banter between the other two was almost enough to exhaust just about anyone, her own natural tolerance for the both of them aside. They were thankfully being quiet for the moment.

Mikoto's stomach growled completely out of the blue. "Hungry..." the black-haired girl pouted sadly to the sidewalk.

"You're just insatiable," Natsuki muttered.

As Mikoto bristled her arms shot down angrily. "Mai makes good food!"

_Wonderful._ Mai laughed nervously to try to break the tension. "It's nothing really. Natsuki wasn't insulting my cooking. Right, Natsuki?"

The distinct pause following only further worsened matters. Natsuki had to take a moment to think; it was too early to comprehend questions for her. She smiled then slightly, and replied, "Your food really is good."

Mikoto wasn't assuaged. She made to punch Natsuki in the arm, but fell short at seeing Mai's facial expression. The determined one of her own didn't falter, but at least she stopped her hand. The small group had paused there on their morning walk, Natsuki's arms up in a belated and unnecessary attempt to defend herself. Mikoto adjusted her jaw into a bit of a different position for a moment and then finally spoke in a low tone. "Natsuki should be more careful."

With that she pushed the canvas case she'd yet to get out of the habit of carrying around back up her shoulder and turned back down the walkway, dashing out of sight. The other two stood still for a moment after that. Mai realized that she was actually breathing pretty hard through her mouth, and closed it slowly. Natsuki looked to the ground and re-adjusted her own bag.

The dark-haired girl eventually looked up as Mai started to walk again; she fell into line herself, but their pace was obviously not light-hearted. It was as though something were weighting their shadows in the early morning light, like a dream they couldn't quite remember, and yet still remembered all too well. The only sounds for quite a while was their shoes on the pavement and the birds chirping on the breeze.

Eventually the main building on the horizon caught up to them. Other school kids were chattering away here, and it made the both of them unconsciously loosen up. Mai stopped and turned to face the other girl, and while she'd intended to say something, the words stayed trapped by her tongue and all she could manage was an apologetic look before Natsuki registered and then formulated a response to it instead.

Natsuki crisply pulled the hood over her head to keep the sudden burst of wind from chilling her, and stared directly at her; green eyes pierced Mai and the anger in them made her shiver. "It isn't your fault. Stop acting like everything is," she said gruffly and walked purposefully into the building, intent upon ignoring anything further, leaving the red-haired girl to shift restlessly in the courtyard area.

Mai very suddenly felt extremely alone.

( ")(" )( ")(" )( ")(" )

"Be here in the morning, will she?" Saeko spat venomously to herself.

She plopped down into her desk chair roughly, or at least roughly in the opinion of her cracked ribs, and immediately regretted it as the pain reverberated into her skull where the glancing cut, nearly deep enough for stitches the first aide on hand had said, was being nursed by an icepack. Trying her best not to think for a moment, the woman pushed the pack back over to the left slightly to make it fully cover the bandaged area. She'd barely gotten the ring out of her ears when a short rapping came on the wooden office door. She was almost certain it wouldn't have sounded so sharp if it weren't for what had happened to her this morning. "Come in," she mumbled.

"I'm sorry, Kuga-sensei." The girl that peered around the door frame was mousy at best, and the glasses she wore made her eyes appear about two times larger than they should. Only half her face was visible anyway, so Saeko found it strangely appropriate. "I know that the infirmary just released you, but Smith-san wanted me to tell you that there's a meeting."

"Meeting?" Saeko growled.

"He said it's not optional..."

"I'm sure it isn't," was the petulant reply. She inhaled deeply, coughed a bit from the pain, then sighed. "Thank you, Hitsugi."

The door closed quietly. "Haven't heard of medical leave either, I see. Never mind that I've likely got several years worth stored up already," she groused on, pulling out some files and a notebook from her desk to slide into her bag, which was rapidly overfilling.

Saeko stood uncertainly, getting a slight dizzy spell. Not wanting to worsen it, she simply stood leaning with one hand against her desk for a moment. She rose her head after the initial wave passed, and was in the midst of chalking it up to the painkillers she'd been given, when she suddenly comprehended what she was seeing outside of her office window.

A glance at her wristwatch told her very plainly that it was just turning 1pm, but down below, a nest of reporters had ensconced itself across the street, still here since this morning. No doubt they were only held at bay by the small barricade that the local police force had set up, combined with menacing looks. As she watched, occasionally one of the reporters would flutter over to the barricade, either trying to question one of the officers, or doing their best to get shots of the scene; of course a gigantic hole in the side of one of the city's reputable pharmaceutical companies would cause enough interest for the six-o-clock news.

_Vultures_, was all that Saeko could think. Having First District's dogs around certainly had its advantages at the time, and this was only a small example where it truly would have been; while Searrs now had BRUTE, the team in First District that specialized in covering up all the messes from the Childs would be invaluable right now. Instead, it was like this, where their first big success had turned sour, and even exposed them to the public eye.

Secrecy had been the focus of this entire operation. Already it had failed. Cursing, Saeko walked out of her office, completely furious. _No wonder there's a meeting._

( ")(" )( ")(" )( ")(" )

"Kuga-sensei, you recognize this, don't you?"

The disembodied voices never did help her nerves. This meeting, like all others, was held in a conference room on the twenty-third floor of the building. Monitors would flip up from sections underneath the table when remote people needed to be contacted, as they were now. Three of them were up currently, though as was usual when speaking with their superiors, the screens were blanked out, with a screen saver up. The room itself was dark.

A projector then flipped out from the center of the table, and a screen unraveled itself against the far wall. Morbid anticipation assaulted Saeko's senses as she found her eyes glued to a surveillance camera's visual of what had occurred earlier; she felt her stomach twist briefly in protest.

_My beautiful Maserati_, she thought sullenly. It slid into the spot with obviously practiced ease. Then a portion of the wall exploded, for lack of a better term, just ahead of it. Debris traveling at the speed of an enraged Child hailed into the metal and windshield. She could even vaguely see the shape of herself trying to brace against the seat.

And then the giant spider-creature pounced and though there was no audio on this tape playing, Saeko could hear the remainder of them in her mind's ear. The sharp almost slicing sound of the steel legs extending, and then multiple large explosions; the members of BRUTE had pulled out one of the mobile netting arrangements and launched it, sending small explosive rounds to throw it off-balance further. Julia's massive weight slammed sideways into the ground to the left of the car, creating a furrow large enough that some might consider it for filling later as a pond.

The blood loss and pain was already making Saeko light-headed at this point, but she could remember the angered shrieking distinctly as Julia writhed around clumsily. BRUTE didn't have very much time until she figured out how to extract herself using the sharp edges of her legs, and acted accordingly. A small contingency of four of the officers advanced and, gas masks present, proceeded to steep the entire quarter of the building with fog-filled gas bombs.

It was there that Saeko remembered herself passing out.

"I'm sure that she understands. You do understand, don't you Miss Kuga?"

Saeko did her best to contain her annoyance; John Smith was actually saving her ass about now. Even so, the woman detested Smith's usage of "Miss," for one because it wasn't totally accurate; after all she'd been the one to marry _Mister_ Kuga, so she was actually Missus. For two, he'd refused to stop calling her it after he'd come up with the "Princess" nickname in referring to her daughter towards the end of the Carnival. He thought it was rather clever to use English, but frankly it irritated her to no end. Unconsciously, she also knew that was the other reason he persisted in using it, too. But she never had learned when to listen to that internal voice of hers.

"It's true," she replied.

"So you see, gentleman, there's no reason for further concern at this point. Our base of operations will be moved, and Miss Kuga will be certain that no other mishaps are encountered. The subjects are still on hand and safely contained." He bowed at the screen fully and rumbled, "We sincerely apologize for the trouble."

The meeting adjourned seemingly of its own accord, no further words distinguishable, just the electronic beeping indicating that the communications were disconnected. They were not pleased.

Smith leaned himself against the desk with an abnormally large breath. Saeko was intrigued. _He's... nervous?_ The woman frowned deeply now, and turned her attention to the dim reflection of herself on the conference table's surface. The lights had remained low, and it seemed that neither of them wanted to change that.

"Let's try to get it right this time, Miss Kuga," came the very dry-throated comment. Smith didn't look at her, and she didn't bother to look up. He walked past her and out the door, shutting it behind him, again, not bothering with the light switch.

The room's only sound after that was that of a fist slamming onto the table surface.

( ")(" )( ")(" )( ")(" )

The tall woman moved like a whisper, listless and on the edge of perception, down the marble hallway. Her heels made no distinguishable noise across the sleek surface; it was as though a ghost of times long past moved through the passage, refusing to acknowledge its own presence, let alone its destination. The figure itself was pale, indeed her skin seeming to glow back at the soft lantern lights that guarded the hallway in two straight, vigilant rows.

Only the touch of bound leather provided comfort for her, and she kept it close to her body as she followed the path until it emptied out into a large enclave of a room. Shelves upon shelves of books stood here with a dark, understated malice, each one daring someone to read them from their posts in the shadows. The knowledge contained within any one of them held power over the reader, some more than others. It was now her duty to watch over the tomes, ensure that they harmed no other. But this night, such thoughts were far beyond her comprehension; this night had become very much like the past few weeks, unfathomably lonely and stricken with heartache.

Her figure paused at the edge of the railing that warded those silly enough to be at the second floor's edge that there was indeed a hefty drop. Green eyes scanned the surface below, carving each flowing curve of the clock resting there into her memory, as they had many times before. She willed it to move once again, but as usual it denied her, the cool metal hands paused in the midst of the thirteen places in a wicked grin, taunting her; the thinest hand was bent and thrown askew in a just over a ninety degree angle from the other two, that were poised on the topmost number. It had been that way for over a month, its anniversary just yesterday.

She smiled unconsciously, unfeeling. Imaginary spectres appeared suddenly and began to dance around the clock, but most of them faded just as quickly into the darkness, save one that continued to its own tune for a brief moment, then disappeared like its brethren. Her eyes traced the lone spectre's path repeatedly, though it no longer was there; this one was her hope, a flicker of a flame that provided a sense of security when nothing else could.

The metal of the railing was cold and jarring. It awakened the woman from her reverie almost immediately as she pressed her hand against it. She jumped back in surprise, and her eyes returned to their melancholy state, narrowed and pained. She swallowed at the hardness building in her throat, and then spoke to no one, despite her wish that everyone could hear it.

"Forgive me."

( ")(" )( ")(" )( ")(" )

Mikoto didn't show up at lunchtime, nor did she return to the dorms directly after class. She'd even missed the dinner Mai'd prepared, and frankly that was unheard of. For her part, Mai was now in a dilemma. "Natsuki, I'm really worried about her."

The dark-haired girl peered from over the top of one of her textbooks. "Then go look for her," she grumbled, returning her attention to the book.

"But I have to get ready for the karaoke session tonight," Mai replied, upset.

This earned a raised eyebrow from the other girl. "A karaoke party? And you didn't invite everyone?" The red-head fidgeted a moment, obviously trying to think up some excuse. "You didn't tell me about it."

"Ah, that's because you're always so against going!" Mai said, just a bit too delighted in her tone; she was excited that Natsuki had given her the very out she needed.

"I see," Natsuki seemed unconvinced, but was too exhausted mentally at that point to fight the issue. Discrete math, she was finding out quickly, was not her best subject and she wasn't a great studier to begin with.

Mai observed the other girl for another moment, then picked her way to look over her shoulder at the text. Natsuki's eye twitched slightly. She hated the sensation of having someone at her back and Mai knew this very well for even the short time they'd been in the same living quarters. The dark-haired girl bit her tongue; she knew she was only being baited. Mai's next comment only confirmed it. "Wow, that's last year's material, isn't it?" she questioned flimsily.

The older girl shut the book with a slam. "It is." She leveled a sharp glare on the red-head. "Look, Mai, why don't you just try calling Nao? That pet of yours probably just wanted to cool down for a bit." _With someone who could sympathize with her._

Mai's eyes lit up at first, but then returned to their worried appearance; Natsuki had given her an idea of where Mikoto might be that she hadn't thought of before, but the truth was that Nao still did some dangerous things. She was faced with the idea that the other redhead might be teaching Mikoto some terrible habits, even as they spoke. "I'll call," Mai said shortly, not really trusting herself to say any more. Natsuki nodded silently, and a few short beeps later, Mai brought the ear piece up to her ear, but immediately frowned. "Went straight to voice mail," she said uncomfortably, placing the phone back into her uniform pocket distractedly.

"She's probably busy," the dark-haired girl grunted. She rubbed at her temple briefly, then pushed herself off the floor suddenly. "Fine. I'll go look for your pet. She can't go too far without transportation anyway. She's likely still near campus."

Mai breathed a small sigh of relief, one that was small enough that the other girl didn't notice it, she was pretty certain. "Thank you, Natsuki."

Natsuki paused distinctly right next to Mai as she finished thanking her. "But this time, when we catch her, you're _going_ to need to get a leash."

The older girl was completely serious, but Mai couldn't help but to crack up laughing.


	4. Some Crazy Dream

_Author's Notes:_

_Yeah so... no songs in particular actually inspired this chapter, so no lyrics for j00. As for the long delay, uhh, sorry. I am re-watching HiME now, and it has provided me with more fuel to roll with. Don't stab too hard._

_Thanks and icecream cones to Vega62a, and my newer friend, Tressflin for the beta. Without them, Mikoto would have been seeing World War era weaponry, and no one would have ever known that Natsuki's really just seeing things. Weird, huh?_

_Oh, and one more thing. DEATH to ffnet for screwing over all my line breaks in every single one of my fics, forcing me to have to edit them all. I do not WANT to use your shitty linebreaks of doom. THE DANGO OF WRATH SHALL SMITE THEE. _

_REVIEWS = MOAR FUEL._

( ")(" )( ")(" )( ")(" )

There were very few things that Mikoto understood thoroughly. Food was one, and so was sleep. Most of the time, she liked to think she understood Mai also, but girls were sometimes far too complex for her. As for males, Mikoto didn't really understand much about them at all, short of her brother. She didn't really care to get to understand Tate, gender aside.

But one thing that she did understand was that people dressed in camouflage clothing combined with semi-automatic rifles and gas masks weren't normal on school grounds. She also understood that they meant trouble, undoubtedly. And lastly, she understood that she stood no chance of stopping them stripped of her HiME abilities.

So, when she first noticed the group of them pouring out of the backside of a van just as sunset was reaching campus, she hid and watched. It didn't take much effort, honestly: she'd been resting up in a tree branch with a couple of cats, too frustrated to go back to the dorms to face either of her roommates, but enough in the mood for an afternoon nap. Caring little about the consequences, and her next meal only on the edge of her perception, the tree sitting slightly along the right path of the fork seemed a good a place as any for some privacy.

People rarely walked along the right path. It headed to the church proper, and most of the students, save for members of the choir, considered it to be a joke. Not to say that the choir wasn't popular, but its members were almost always more reserved people that Mikoto would trust not to disturb her, even if they did bother to look up. It was actually the insistent chirping of the crickets, up early as they usually were on warm summer evenings, that had awoken her. Well, them and her growling stomach.

An orange haze had settled across the path, and the choir members were little ants far along it, trying to reach the dorms before darkness settled in. Normally, they wouldn't be here this late, but there was an upcoming competition. Fuka's choir was one of the best in the region, and their hard training reflected that. But these were all passing thoughts to Mikoto. Right now, she was hungry.

If it was sunset, it would have to be somewhere around seven to eight in the evening, at this time of year. Mikoto sat up and rubbed forward the hair on the top of her head sleepily. Mai would have likely already made dinner and- _I missed it_, she whined internally. She hoped fervently that Mai had saved some for her. After having napped, she barely remembered the morning's altercation, and that was fine by her. It had made her feel uncomfortable later on, after all.

She shifted the canvas container onto her back and prepared to leap down. Her muscles froze in place, however, as she felt something off in the area. A quick glance to one of the cats confirmed her suspicions; its fur stood on end and its tail was straight up into the air, a growl barely contained in its chest. _Something's wrong._

Skimming the ground below produced nothing, so instead she climbed a few branches higher, deftly moving upwards while making sure to disturb the foliage as little as possible. There, further up the path to the church, was a parked van. Nondescript in appearance, devoid of logos, it was completely unassuming. The men that poured out from inside it, however, were anything but.

Even from this distance, Mikoto could tell that they were there for some darker purpose; a few carried regular rifles, and more than a few of them carried heavier weapons that looked a bit like rocket launchers. Gas masks kept her from being able to see much of their faces. The best she could make out from this distance were their builds, and all of them were obviously well-enough muscled to match the fatigue clothing they wore. _So something wrong, but not something I can stop._ Mikoto felt offended at the internal dare.

Offended enough to go do something about it.

( ")(" )( ")(" )( ")(" )

Mai had decided to try to enjoy life.

It had not been any easy decision, certainly. The Carnival had not been easy on any of them. She did not consider herself above being effected by it, in any form. Sometimes though, she privately wished to herself that she had been put through the true hells that everyone else had been. (Never mind that she seriously belittled the perception of what she had gone through). But it was that sort of mindset that had gotten her into trouble with Natsuki this morning: her natural penchant for taking on the burdens of others.

If anyone where to ask her how she felt now, she would have to say she felt ignorant. Not that she was happy about it, or sad, or even really knew which she _should_ be. Just that she felt ignorant. And also, at times, terribly lonely. No matter how many friends she had, no matter her budding relationship with Yuuichi, no thoughts of those things could ease the cold grip whenever her thoughts were not occupied by some sort of physical or mental task. And that she was often generally confused just before or after the changes between these two feelings.

Nobody asked though. And daily life, "normal life," as Yuuichi had put it once, a happy crowing note in his voice, was all that really mattered. Mai had to content herself with that, and did her best not to dwell on anything related to the latter two emotions. It was amazingly easy whenever she could manage it.

She tried to karaoke once a week, these days. The ticket to the city was not cheap, but with Takumi's surgery costs out of the way, she made room for it. It was a relaxing way to wind down the week after studying like mad each night to make up for that one night without it. To top it off, silly as it was, she really did love to sing.

When the passenger train screeched to a halt at the designated place, she grabbed Yuuichi's hand excitedly and tugged him out the door behind her. For his part, the boy made a show of acting like his arm was about to be pulled from its socket, but Mai could tell he was just lagging. "Come on!" she yelled back at him, yanking insistently, a giggle escaping her.

"Aw, why..."

"You know we'll miss the bus if we don't hurry up! Maybe you want to wait another hour for the next one, but I don't!" Mai continued teasingly.

Yuuichi rubbed at the back of his head uncertainly, and flashed a half-smile. Mai took it in stride, tugging him harder. She noted with wry satisfaction that he kept up this time.

The bus was trying to leave, in fact, just as they rounded the corner. A winded boyfriend and a stubbed toe later, they entered the vehicle and took their seats. "Agh... S-... Stupid thing was early," Yuuichi panted quietly.

Mai smiled at him admiringly. "But we're on it."

"Yeah," he said, after taking a moment to enjoy the silent praise. After a few stops he caught his breath, and noticed that Mai was staring out the window. Yuuichi watched her closely, but she didn't seem to acknowledge him. Hesitating just slightly, he reached over and covered the hand in her lap with his own.

Turning her head slowly, she blinked suddenly, and with that seemed to clear whatever it was she'd been thinking of. Again slowly, Mai smiled, and turned her hand around to grip his more securely. It was warm and protective. She sat back and tilted her head against the rest behind it, closing her eyes, still firm in holding on.

_There's no reason to be lonely..._

( ")(" )( ")(" )( ")(" )_  
_

The pond itself was wholly unremarkable on its own. It rested in a clearing just barely large enough to contain it, surrounded by foliage that was hardly healthy enough to stay green. Since the events that occurred that winter, where a great ice formation had affixed itself to the pond's center, it had become oddly lifeless. In fact, the immediate area was nearly swampish; the water was murky, moss overgrowing from nearby trees onto its surface, and even the woodland creatures knew better than to walk onto the rocks here: they were slime-covered, yet sticky.

By the pull on her senses, Natsuki could tell something important had happened here, something besides Alyssa's apparent rejuvenation, but there was no way to tell now. Her sneaker squished unpleasantly in a place she had thought was solid. Stumbling a bit, she barely caught her balance against one of the resident mossy trees. "Ugh, gross..." she muttered to herself, retrieving her hand quickly and, for lack of other material, wiping it against her clothing._Honestly, that stupid girl. Making me hunt her down,_ she thought sourly.

A large bubble rolled its way to the surface of the water without warning, piquing the teen's curiosity. She was about to move around the small obstacles in her way to investigate, but a noise in the brush to her right distracted her. Whatever had made it was obviously not one of the frogs croaking sporadically in the area; it was larger, large enough to move leaves at least as high as she was tall. She briefly considered calling out Mikoto's name, assuming that perhaps the other girl had also felt drawn to this place.

Instead, she nearly swallowed her own tongue. The brittle brush directly by the edge of the water moved aside with a soft, almost hissing sound; a wolf, silver in coat and golden of eye, padded into the tiny clearing. If it noticed the girl standing merely ten feet from it, it paid no heed, and searched the surface of the pond for a reasonable place to drink from. The dark-haired girl felt frozen in place, though she was uncertain if it were from fear the creature would bolt or attack.

She wasn't exactly sure how she didn't attract the wolf's attention; her clothes were not loud colored, but definitely didn't fit in with the surrounding environment. Natsuki told herself it was because she stayed still, but life seemed determined that day to prove her wrong. The beast had found a place to drink, and after a few moments of slaking its thirst, it proceeded to lift its head, staring at her intently as though it knew she'd been there the entire time.

Unnerved, Natsuki stumbled backwards, tripping over a tree root while trying to keep her front facing the wolf. For its part, the wolf watched her closely, its once forward-facing ears curving backwards, its eyes narrowing. It was suspicious, that much was apparent. Its jaws parted slightly, but did not pull back into a snarl much to the girl's relief.

There was a sudden noise to the west and both beings turned toward it briefly. The wolf turned back just as she did and this time its ears pricked high. Now uncertain of the number, nor of the intent of what lay around it, it whuffed out air in a small warning bark to Natsuki, a simple "don't follow me," then turned and fled.

Heart thudding against her chest, and just as alarmed as the wolf, Natsuki looked around quickly. A low, sturdy branch offered itself and she leapt up, grabbed it, and hoisted herself into its care. She climbed a couple more nearby branches as quietly as possible, then waited. She rubbed at her forehead a moment, feeling the creases. _What the hell? Wolves are extinct in Japan. Have been for over a hundred years..._

A headache set in very quickly, and made it hard for her to think. She rubbed at the bridge of her nose for a bit, still trying to keep an eye on the area below. Nothing else moved for quite a while, at least ten minutes, by Natsuki's mental count. Sunset was creeping by now. Sensing no gain in staying where she was any longer, she jumped down.

Immediately she began inspecting the ground for tracks. To her utter confusion, there were none where the wolf had stood. Not believing her own eyes, she even tried to look around for some bent brush where she'd seen the creature take off. None was to be found. Clueless, she made her way directly to her bike, setting where she left it under a street lamp on the forest's edge.

Having reached and mounted her bike without incident, she turned it to face the woods warily, unsure of what to do next. Reaching in the side pouch of her riding leathers, she picked out her cellphone. _What am I going to tell Mai? "Sorry, couldn't find your pet, but I did find an extinct creature that I guess only existed in my imagination to start with"?_ It was ridiculous, and she had no better leads as to where Mikoto might be hiding herself.

Grunting, she opened the flip of the phone and once again dialed the one person that might know where she was: Nao. Her eyes retrained themselves on the woods again as she put the phone to her ear, but was disgruntled when she heard the voicemail message come through immediately as it had for Mai earlier. Slowly, she flipped the object closed.

A crow cawed from the trees, and some leaves at the edge bustled as it flew deeper into the forest. Natsuki shuddered slightly. This was going to be one long night.

( ")(" )( ")(" )( ")(" )

The karaoke hall itself hadn't changed much, despite their own plight last year. Teens poured out of it nightly, at all hours, regardless of whether there was class the next day or not. This particular hall prided itself on its customer base and had many regulars. In fact, it even had a mysterious rear exit for when the police officers decided to check to ensure that minors were meeting curfews, making it even more wildly popular with its clientèle.

Flashing lights outside drew people in, only to amuse them with the clashing interior draperies and off-key singing that could be heard faintly through the doors. Mai felt comfortable here. It was just perfect, in her mind.

She had a moment's pause to miss Mikoto on this venture as she passed the counter,

_why her? she's just in the way-_

but sobered as she felt Yuuichi put an arm around her waist possessively as a few boys from the neighborhood school leered out the doorway to their private room upon seeing her pass. Normally, she would have given the boys in question quite the scolding, but was only mildly surprised to find that she was more entranced by her boyfriend's protectiveness, and let him give the dirty stares for her.

They reached their assigned room for the night (in fact, the gang had a reserved room for when they booked ahead, but tonight, they'd been given a smaller one, more appropriate to the number attending), and Yuuichi jumped out before them to courteously open the door. Mai could only match his goofy grin as he bowed, saying, "Your room awaits, my lady."

When she turned the corner to enter, however, she immediately realized that something was strangely amiss. The lights were normally turned on for when guests arrived, most especially for when they were booked ahead of time. This room did not, and just as Mai went for the light switch that she figured had to be just inside, on the near wall, deciding to chalk it up to one of the attendants being too busy reading ero manga after finishing his afternoon sweeping duties, her skin prickled.

Startled, she jumped back and gave a short cry. Yuuichi was attentive at the moment's notice, brows furrowed and gaze questioning, searching back and forth rapidly between the girl's face and the darkened room. There was a tense moment then; Mai rubbed at her wrist nervously, and yet nothing seemed odd about the room itself.

Mai stopped rubbing herself soon enough, and took her own turn to gaze inside. It was partially lit by the hallway light. She could almost make out the silhouette of the furniture that she was more-than-familiar with from her other visits to this place. Indeed, everything _seemed_ fine, until the darkness suddenly began engulfing the little light that the hallway cast inside.

She couldn't pull her eyes away. It felt like she had been asleep, and her eyes were still playing tricks on her as to what she actually saw in there. But though the darkness had started swallowing slowly at first, it took a sudden deathly speed without warning, and Mai jumped and wished fervently that she could look away, turn, run, _something_, but she could not.

Suddenly as the darkness had engulfed her vision, there was a bright centering flash of green, and a surrounding wreath of orange and gold formed thereafter. The colors were in a generally circular shape. They pulsated, once, and as Mai went to blink, she was startled again, this time by Yuuichi's grinning face in point-blank range of her own.

"-to Mai. Earth to Mai. Come in, Mai," he was saying, his voice stuck in a false, nasally tone.

Mai took a second to orient herself; apparently Yuuichi had walked into the room himself, and simply turned on the light switch, which was, coincidentally, just where Mai had assumed it would be. The light... was... yes. _It must be why I saw what I did. Residual light..._

"Sorry, I was spacing out," Mai offered with a small smile. She was still a little unsettled, but prayed that it would be enough to trick him.

Thankfully, it was. "I hope that our dates don't cause you to space out every time," he said, this time trying to be suave. Seeing how his girlfriend smiled a bit more broadly, he decided to gamble a little more. "After all, I would much prefer that you focus on_ me_."

Despite herself, Mai felt utterly flattered. She also felt an uncontrollable need to hug him. She did so, fiercely, and half drug him into the room, kicking the door shut with her foot. She then proceeded to do other things to Yuuichi, still quite fiercely, that he frankly enjoyed every single moment of.

( ")(" )( ")(" )( ")(" )

The reek of cigarette smoke and rotting vomit was not something that Natsuki particularly enjoyed about the Rorschach Bar. In fact, even with her experiences with coming here over the past year and a half, she still couldn't get used to it. The scent was downright repulsive, actually, but within about ten minutes of being around it one normally became desensitized enough to stand it. Natsuki was no exception to that.

The dark-haired woman parked her bike in the quiet back alley with a frown. The wall was slimy as ever, and she had to position the machine just so to avoid touching it. The breeze was chilly here; the alley itself was open at both ends, making it a kind of wind tunnel. Silently, she cursed the fact that she hadn't brought a jacket to put over her leathers.

She wandered inside as coolly as ever, and she did earn a few stares, as she normally did. It wasn't exactly common to have someone with her looks come in to such a place. She took her habitual place at the bar; it seems even with the random drop-off of her appearances in the past month, no one had yet taken it.

Natsuki fumbled around a moment for her zipper pocket, then procured a small number of bills from inside. Without looking to the bartender, she tossed a few onto the counter. For his part, the bartender, a man with meaty arms, most especially for being native Japanese, was not the kind to ignore money sitting on his counter. Mentally calculating with a brief glance, he cleared his throat. Again, no words, nor looks were exchanged, but Natsuki begrudgingly added another bill to the stack.

With an expression that would have made carved ice feel ridiculous by comparison, the bartender scooped the cash aside into a jar. With the same sweeping motion of his hand, he brought up a beer bottle from the ice bin and slid it down to the girl. Catching it reflexively, she smiled tightly before going about removing her gloves. _That little extra for being underage always makes this stuff taste better, after all,_ she thought wryly. Using her gloves as leverage, she popped the top off the bottle and set them all down on the bar.

She took a small swig and winced. The first drink of beer was always the worst. After a few swallows, and reacquainting her eyes well to the crack in the bar wood directly before her, she ventured enough to take a look around. Natsuki quickly picked out the wool-knit hat of her normal informant easily. She caught his eye (of course he'd been watching her), and flicked her gaze meaningfully at the seat beside her. No one else sat at this corner of the bar; it was private enough.

Noting that he was standing, picking up his own drink, Natsuki turned her attention back to the bar. The crack really had gotten a bit wider over the year. She wondered idly if that was because she stared at it so much, and smiled despite herself. The girl took another swig carefully, but the bitterness was still a bit strong in the back of her mouth.

Her contact grinned, knowingly, but faced the wall of alcohol ahead of him. "Still not used to it?" he uttered softly, moving his lips as little as possible. It was custom.

"It's been a month," Natsuki offered, matter-of-factly.

"So it has." There was a short silence as the man drank from his own bottle. "What brings you here tonight then?"

"I need information." The dark-haired girl leaned forward so that her hair cascaded to mask her own mouth's movements.

Another grin. "You usually do when you come in here."

"I'm not in the mood. Where is Minagi Mikoto?"

A slight surprise hung in the air. "That wasn't the question I was expecting from you," he returned.

Taking a drink, she steeled herself. "What nonsense are you talking now?"

"Haven't you seen the news?" he asked, his tone mildly curious.

_The news... what?_ "No, why?"

The man stood in a manner that gave no sense of urgency. Fishing around for a moment just on the other side of the bar, he found the television remote. He flipped the device on, and set it to the side nonchalantly. The program was the news, of course, at this time of night.

"...and police are still investigating the scene. Iwasaka Pharmaceuticals representative John Smith indicates that there is no cause for concern; he maintains that the wreckage was caused by a simple chemical machine malfunction, and that no casualties were accounted for."

Natsuki's grip on her bottle tightened to a considerably dangerous degree as she watched the footage of the building's ruin. The reporter seemed to be continuing, but some drunkard in the back of the bar yelled for the television to be shut off. Her contact complied without comment, putting the remote back in its place.

"What the hell kind of sick joke is that?" the girl trusted herself to say eventually.

"It's no joke, I assure you." He paused thoughtfully, then drained his bottle. "Nothing's a joke to those people."

"I'm seeing that," she muttered through ground teeth. She gave up pretense of not speaking to him at this point, turning his direction. "So. Is that where Mikoto is?" After another second's thought she added, "Where Nao is?"

Her contact stood purposefully. "I suppose anything is possible." He picked up the small wad of cash she threw onto the counter. "Just look at yourself," he winked. "Try not to mess up your Ducati again, okay? Those parts aren't cheap." He exited the bar without another word.

Natsuki sat for a moment, unsure of what to do. She noted with irritation that her bottle was still half-full, and that she'd actually just paid her informant to watch the freaking news for her; then fully irate, she corrected the former promptly. Standing suddenly made her a little dizzy afterwards, but she told herself it was from the lack of fresh air. With that thought in mind, she grabbed her gloves from the bar and stalked outside.


	5. Old Allies vs New Ones

_Due to a rather unfortunate hard drive crash, and subsequent flash drive wipe at the same time, I lost all of my works in progress, guys. I'm really sorry. I've retrieved some of them (mostly Chain-link, and about half of what I'd had for Date [this had been almost ready to post both parts T_T]), but other than that, it's just been hard for me as I lost a lot of works in progress. Please enjoy this at least, for the like... two of you out there who are still reading it. I am laid off currently, and have actually written most of chapter 5 already, along with bits of 6. So hopefully this will come out a little more regularly. I have also taken to posting these to my LJ, and I have made some edits to the first few chapters of this over there. Maybe I'll get lazy enough to correct them here, someday._

_Til then.  
_

( ")(" )( ")(" )( ")(" )

When Mai returned that night to the dorms, her spirits were unnaturally high. She'd had the greatest time with Yuuichi, and she was even spinning around in giddiness as she walked her way with no real urgency back along the campus grounds' paths. She puffed out her chest and sang a couple of the more addictive ditties she'd performed earlier as she went. It seemed wonderful to even be alive.

As she finished one of them, her mind suddenly went blank. Mai had just come up on the bicycle rack a bit of a ways from the dorm building. Propped in its usual place beside the rack sat the Ducati, but this was far from what her pause. What made her pause was the fact that the lower half of the right-side fender was torn up very, very badly. Mai was horrified.

Her heart pounded in her chest as the dashed the rest of the way to the dorm building. Up the stairs, down the hall, to the right. Shaking hands fumbled with the keys from her carry-on purse clumsily. In the meanwhile, a short mantra formed in her mind: _They're fine, just fine, the bike is here, so they must be here..._

The dorm door always stuck a bit, but it made her even more agitated tonight. "Natsuki!" she called, the door finally bursting open.

Although it was completely dark, she eventually traced down the figure of a very irritated dark-haired girl, who was slowly turning her face toward her, squinting at the light as she lounged on the small couch. Her right arm was bandaged, and a bit of red showed among the folds. "Yeah?" she asked tiredly. She must have fallen asleep sitting up.

Mai dropped her things unceremoniously in the foyer area, paying only half attention as she flipped the light switch on and shut the door. "Natsuki, what happened?" She couldn't help the edge in her voice.

"Ah, uh... well," Natsuki found herself not really wanting to explain. She opted for a safer topic of conversation, and put a deeper, more serious note in her tone. "I couldn't find Mikoto."

The redhead felt a sharp stab of concern that trumped her general overall feelings of discomfort. Mai moved to crouch by the edge of the sofa. "And?" Natsuki looked away from her uncomfortably. "Natsuki... I saw your bike. Come on."

"It just got out from under me," Natsuki muttered. There was a moment of silence, and though Mai said nothing, her expression pleaded for more. Eventually Natsuki had no choice but to look up and acknowledge it. "I just misjudged, all right? Look, I'll be fine," she growled and lifted her right arm a few times to demonstrate that its movement wasn't hindered. "Just some scratches. I managed to get my leg out in time, but my arm got pinned."

Mai drew a breath in slowly, feeling herself calm down somewhat. "That's not like you--"

"Yeah! Yeah, I know, it's not like me!" Natsuki roared back defensively. She became quiet afterward, realizing it had been over-the-top a moment too late. The dark-haired woman rubbed at her temple for a time, closing her eyes.

_She's just as worried as me_, Mai thought. She placed a hand lightly over Natsuki's bandaged forearm, then cast a look around. The first-aid kit sat open, its contents strewn haphazardly across the floor. The redhead thought to stand up and put them back together, but she was stopped as Natsuki suddenly gripped her hand.

"Mai," she started again seriously, "I need to know something, after all." Natsuki paused as though briefly doubting her approach, but then immediately charged forward. "Have you felt, or maybe seen, anything _special_ in the past several days?"

"Special?" Mai was momentarily confused, having been focused on the situation at hand. After some consideration however, she understood what Natsuki was trying to reference, and a coldness formed in the pit of her stomach. She locked her amethyst eyes onto Natsuki's emerald ones. "You don't mean..."

"I lied, yes," Natsuki responded, with just the slightest waver.

Mai frowned, leaning back into a more comfortable sitting position. She retrieved her hand from the other girl's arm, and placed the fingertips lightly against her chest, over where her HiME mark had been. "I felt it just the other day. I actually _saw_ it," she turned to look at Natsuki with a neutral expression, and then slowly followed up, "I thought."

Natsuki sighed, then growled again. "Mine, also. And just tonight..." she barked out a small laugh here, and her face was one of disbelief, "I saw a wolf, Mai. A damn _wolf_."

Feeling her eyebrows arch, Mai faced the floor as she processed this. Eventually she swallowed hard. "I saw lights. I wanted to pretend that maybe I hadn't, but... they were the same colors as Kagutsuchi. I know it."

The two sat like this for what seemed like a small eternity; it was a companionable quiet, one which they both took some small comfort in as they considered the ramifications of these occurrences.

Neither girl spoke much after that, short of an agreement to come up with some sort of plan tomorrow in regards to finding their friends. They would meet right after Mai's shift at the Linden Baum. That meant they'd need to think it over in less than a day's time. As for tonight, they were both too exhausted to think straight.

Things were becoming complicated, and fast.

( ")(" )( ")(" )( ")(" )

The metal restraints creaked ominously as Saeko entered the wrecked area. Gunpowder marks were littered everywhere, and quite a few dents were present from the larger rounds fired, making the scene seem even worse. The corpses had been removed, but their taped linings hadn't, and neither had the stained blood. _Amazing what a few bribes can do for police reports._

The internal structure of the building had since been deemed trustworthy, but the gaping holes in the east wall, one swathing gap in the ceiling, and no less than several dozen craters in the floor, no doubt caused by Julia's steel-hardened legs, left Saeko wondering about that. Still, she was a scientist, not an architect. She flipped over the pages on the clipboard she held, not really reading any of them, but wanting to seem interested in the damage report. "Did Smith return my messages?" she asked her assistant.

"No, ma'am," Hitsugi returned. "He's still on the field mission."

Saeko smirked. _Let's hope he stays that way for a while._ "Very well," she said aloud, her tone carefully flat and contrasting her facial expression.

The lab coat at her waist flared briefly as she walked parallel to the tarped-over area that was the east wall; somewhere there was a draft emerging from it. Saeko paid it no mind, and made straight for the containment tank.

The tank itself was the central focus of this room, that was about five yards in diameter. Mostly cylindrical in nature, its outer layer, a specially-designed plexiglass compound, was broken in a rather uncleanly fashion. The center was occupied by grates on the flooring that were raised from the ground about a yard to allow for the machinery beneath. Metal restraints that had once doubled as a suspension tool hung limply from the reinforced ceiling. The stairs which had led to the platform had since been destroyed.

Hazard signs were blocking most any entrance to the area, a radiation symbol prominently displayed on each. With an absent-minded flick from her wrist, Saeko knocked one aside. She lifted herself onto the platform of the tank deftly, ignoring the grime her lab coat acquired as well as the acute pain from her ribs.

"Kuga-sensei!" Hitsugi gasped, frightened.

"It's fine," Saeko muttered, approaching the tank.

As the dark-haired woman reached the edge of it, she jumped into the inner-shell past the broken wall. Just as her feet touched the grate, she felt a tingling sensation start up her legs. Her eyes widened, then closed contentedly as she reached down with her free hand, grasping through the holes tightly. The sensation intensified.

She would never tire of this feeling.

_Even if the machine is off..._ It took only a moment for the sensation of pain from her ribs to dissipate. The woman sighed deeply. Saeko was startled out of her brief euphoria when her cellphone rang loudly from her lab coat pocket. Standing quickly, she fumbled with the contraption for a moment. Giving up, she threw it out to Hitsugi who, with a degree of skill that might lend some to believe she did this regularly, caught it. She answered the phone, but Saeko was already back to studying the tank.

The damage to the shell wasn't anything extraordinary, she concluded after an examination. Simple cause-and-effect of Julia's break for freedom; the actual structure didn't imply any loose junctions or foul play. The restraints were much the same, hardly worth acknowledging. She would have to hunt down a ladder if she wanted to check the ceiling joints, but getting a hold of a decent janitor in this place was madness. So that only left...

Saeko frowned. "Hitsugi, I'm going to need some fresh clothes." _I have some people to meet._ She hopped down from the platform, pleasantly satisfied that her ribs provided no pain at all. Turning to see her assistant's face, she was filled with a new sense of dread, however.

Hitsugi held out the phone and a clipboard with some trepidation. "That was Smith-san." Silence. "Project Chimera has been ordered to move to the next phase immediately."

The scientist could find nothing to say, but the hiss of anger as Saeko turned on her heel without taking the proffered items was the only response Hitsugi needed to understand.

( ")(" )( ")(" )( ")(" )

Akane grimaced as she heard a faint clanging sound, muffled by rubber rebounding it. _Third time in two hours_, she thought. "Mai-san." She peered around the corner to the server station area, one of the few floor-protected places in Linden Baum. She noted that at least this time the offending dish was still in one piece. "Is there something the matter?" she continued to ask quietly, serious concern in her voice.

"A-Ah! No, nothing!" Mai replied, overly loud. She smiled.

Her smile didn't fool Akane; in fact, Akane was almost certain the only person it did fool was Tate, but she resolved to let it go for at least until they had break time in about twenty minutes. She smiled back. "Well, okay."

The redhead knew she'd feel guilty if she had brought up the HiME situation to Akane, of all people, right now. The other girl had just gotten back into her work routine recently, having been the first afflicted in the HiME carnival, and arguably broken the worst. _I'll just wait, and maybe Natsuki and I can just figure it out ourselves after all._

Mai took to cleaning up the mess with a nearby towel up on the serving station's counter. The drink was soda, so the longer it sat, the more likely it was to start sticking to the bottoms of their feet, and then it would only become a matter of time before their boss yelled at them.

"Order up!" came the roar from the kitchen. The head chef was in early today; normally it was Kazuya who had the reins during lunchtime.

"Coming!" Akane yelled back, instinctively. Her face never turned away from Mai. Akane stood still a moment until she had the other girl's attention from the cleaning. "We'll talk about it later," she said simply, and with no further explanation, she turned on her heel and took the tray from under her arm in one fluid motion, heading for the order counter.

Mai felt the heat in her cheeks at being discovered as she tried her best to mop up the last of the drink. What was the saying? _No use crying over spilled... soda._ Somehow Mai thought she'd gotten the English catchphrase wrong, but she felt better focusing on trying to remember it than anything else. She was desperately worried about Mikoto. Even a little about Nao. If her conversation with Natsuki was any indicator, things were just _not_ going to turn out well.

She felt lost, and despite her friend being right beside her, still terribly alone.

( ")(" )( ")(" )( ")(" )

Nao felt, without a doubt, that she was being made the end of some giant, cosmic joke. Or that perhaps Sister Yukariko had been right, and maybe she should have become a nun after all. Anything to get some faith, these days.

"Hey, can't I at least get some smokes?"

The BRUTE officer just eyed her as though she were a bug. After a brief moment, he tapped the glass with the tip of his rifle meaningfully. _Step away from the glass, Clarice._ Nao sneered and stalked to the bunk in the room she now found her home.

More than anything else, this place seemed like jail to her. There had been only once that Nao had gotten into enough trouble (and caught, mind you) to be thrown into a cell overnight. It had taken quite a bit of fast-talking to get herself out, too. But above all, the caged bit was just entirely not her throw of dice.

The girl licked her lips casually, and then considered throwing the room into complete disarray as she had earlier. She discarded the idea, though; after being trapped in here for who-knew-exactly-how-long, the impression was slowly being left in her that it would only make her have more work to do to put it back together again. Even dogs with short attention spans can learn a trick or two.

Thinking back, Nao did her best to remember what happened that night when she'd left Natsuki's old apartment. The taxicab driver was the normal sleazy-looking type she'd become accustomed to getting in that area. He asked her destination, and she had responded, but to where exactly she couldn't recall. She felt somehow the detail wasn't important, but given her situation, she couldn't rule it out. The man had run a hand through his greasy hair once, and nodded.

Here is where things began to become hazy, and even the bits she could remember made very little sense to her. The taxi pulled out slowly, and after a few short turns, she had seen some strange-looking fog coming up through some of the sewer vents. Nao knew this was odd, as it was already humid outside, so for something to create visible moisture in the air wasn't normal.

She'd also noticed that the driver seemed to be making some weird road choices, ones she knew weren't heavily populated. Even for her own staunch attitude, this was becoming a little too creepy. Nao had opened her mouth to ask the driver to stop, but he suddenly said, "Just a moment here miss, going to make an important bathroom stop. Don't worry, I'll make sure to stop your clock."

Nao remembered frowning as soon as the man quit trying to look at her face through the rear-view mirror, and thinking to herself that she'd just go ahead and give this guy the slip as soon as he was out of sight to begin with. Within a minute or so, the man stopped at what looked to be a run-down station. Nao was not familiar with it at all.

In fact, it seemed rather seedy in itself, complete with grease stains on the gas pump receptacles; it seemed this place hadn't been used as a gas station at all recently from its appearance. The man pulled the cab to a halt, and before she knew it, had dived out of the car. Panicked, she could only think to mimic his maneuver, but as her feet hit the ground and her knees bent from the impact, she found herself quite suddenly extremely dizzy. Then the fog expanded without warning, she felt a flare of pain, there was a red color reflecting back against the mist as she crumpled to the ground and stared upwards, and a din in her ears covered everything else. There, she passed out cold.

Frustrated all over again having gone over her plight in her mind, Nao launched herself back against the bed, refusing to wince at the metal tines which dug against her skull. By her mental calculations, she had likely been here for about two days or so. This assumed that her blackout period hadn't made that longer. The only way she had to figure this was by merit of the fact that she had been provided three meals each day. _This is just ridiculous. At least I should get a hint as to what the hell is going on._

There was a small commotion going on outside her window. The guard seemed to be doing his best to stand at attention. Nao watched with a diffused expression on her face, but refused to move from her position on the bed. At least, that was until the guard moved aside to show her full-on who stood in the window to visit her.

Her heart skipped a beat at the piercing green eyes that were looking directly at her. _Those eyes, that hair, those features..._ "Kuga," she whispered dryly to herself, slowly sitting up in what felt like some sort of out-of-body experience. But no, this wasn't Natsuki. She was older for one, somewhat slimmer in the face (_and has glasses_, Nao realized with a start), but the resemblance was uncanny. Too uncanny, surely related in fact--

"Nao-san," there was a slight crackle in the intercom, but even as the other woman spoke, the voice unnerved her in its similarities to Natsuki's. "I don't believe we've met, but you may know my daughter."

A chill went down Nao's spine, and she found herself at a loss for words. A preconception she had about the world had very suddenly been pulled out from under her, and she didn't know how she should respond. She was only vaguely aware of how disheveled her hair must appear as she'd made no attempt to straighten it since she sat up.

For her part, the older woman provided a cold smile. Nao recognized it as one she'd never seen on Natsuki's face before, but one that she herself practiced with abandon. Nao's attitude took a turn to affection almost immediately. "No matter. My name is Kuga Saeko, a researcher and scientist here at Iwasaka Pharmaceuticals." Saeko narrowed her eyes somewhat and examined the young woman's entire figure in a calculating manner. Seemingly satisfied, she continued, "Would you care to take a short walk?"

Nao's eyes finally glimmered in acknowledgment, and she reached back to lazily brush her hair into some semblance of order. Then, she looked to the nails of the same hand with casual interest. She could play the nonchalant card like nobody's business. Nao only briefly flicked her gaze in Saeko's direction. "You got any smokes?"


End file.
